Come along and talk with others about their concerns with
the proposed North Eveleigh Concept Plan and maybe even pen a brief submission.
REDWatch is organising a Community Submission Writing BBQ on 31st May 2008
between 11am and 1pm in the Charles McKiernan Reserve on the corner of
Abercrombie & Shepherd Sts. This small park is one of few green spaces close
to the new development. The intersection will be the main access point for
traffic to and from the eastern part of the development. The RWA has agreed to
open Yaama Dhiyaan (255 Wilson
Street Darlington)
on the 31st May from 11am to 1 pm so it will give an extra
opportunity outside business hours for anyone, who has not yet seen the model and
plans for the site, to question the RWA. In the case of rain we will meet at
Yaama Dhiyaan without the BBQ and then adjourn to a near by hotel to write
submissions.

Notice of the Concept Plan exhibition appears on the
Department of Planning’s website as MP
08_0015 with contact details for the officer handling the exhibition and
details for submissions. The Concept Plan and its A-Z Appendices can be
downloaded from www.redfernwaterloo.nsw.gov.au/development_applications/north_eveleigh.htm.
The documents can be also viewed in hard copy at the City of Sydney Council,
Redfern Neighbourhood Service Centre, 158 Redfern Street Redfern, at Yaama
Dhiyaan (255 Wilson Street Darlington) during the information session times
given at the RWA's website.

Please note that you
have to put in a submission to the Department of Planning by 12th June 2008 to
have your views considered. Submissions can be sent by email to information@planning.nsw.gov.au
or by post to: The Director, Urban Assessments, Department of Planning, GPO Box
39, Sydney NSW 2001. Please consider also passing a copy of your submission to
REDWatch so we are aware of residents’ concerns. REDWatch will post submissions
from organisations and individuals who would like to share their publishable
comments with others. REDWatch has set up a comment section on its website for
people to share public comments. Some Macdonaldtown residents have also set up
a closed Yahoo group and the details are in the first posting on the REDWatch Comments
on the North Eveleigh Concept Plan.

In our last update we provided Some
Initial Comments on the North Eveleigh Concept Planin the
last couple of weeks we have had the opportunity to talk with a few more people
and we are starting to get an impression of the reaction to the RWA’s proposed
Concept Plan for North Eveleigh. We will have
a better idea after Saturday. Here are some of the things we are hearing:

There is considerable concern about the Traffic Impact Study
and how the area is going to cope with the increased level of traffic –
particularly how this traffic will interact with the growing numbers of
pedestrians and the increase in bike traffic in the area. The traffic study does
not provide any projected figures for the expected traffic flows out of the site;
it only provides a measure of what “level of service” can be expected at
various traffic lights. As traffic lights onto major roads, such as Cleveland
and Gibbons Sts, can not be changed, the only solutions for major intersections
are to extend the holding areas in Darlington before
the intersection to manage the traffic increase. The study reports that the
University wants to close Butlin Ave,
but that this change has not been included in the modelling. Residents expect that
this will have a significant impact as traffic will have to use Shepherd St or Darlington Rd and Golden Grove St.

People in Queen
St are already reporting accidents in Wilson St as cars go
left then immediately right to leave the Eveleigh site via Queen Street, this will increase
significantly with the development. Queen Street is the most convenient options
for traffic wanting to turn either left or right into King Street. The traffic study boundary
is at the corner of Burren and Wilson Sts and it is assumed the traffic will
disperse through Erskineville without any difficulty. There is concern that the
given the stop sign on Albert St and limited options available to exit onto
Erskineville Road that traffic problems will result in Erskineville.

At a recent meeting between some residents and the RWA’s
traffic consultants we put raised concern these concerns and it became clear
that much of the underlying work for the study was contained in an earlier
report done for the RWA Built Environment Plan. Without access to this study it
is difficult to assess the assumptions underlying the concept plan document.
The RWA has agreed to release the earlier study and the RWA has also proposed
to put together some Q&As about the traffic impacts to make it clearer for
the non expert. This material will go up on the REDWatch site at North
Eveleigh Major Project Application by RWA 2008 section when we have
received it and it should also appear on the RWA’s site. If you have
specific questions we suggest you email them to the RWA and request an answer.
Remember that it is the Department of Planning that assesses the project, so
your comments have to be put in writing to the Department for them to be taken
into account in the final approval.

Residents backing on to Iverys lane are worried about the
impact of the planned six storey building close to their properties and the
lack of a sympathetic transition between the existing houses and the proposed
development promised in the RWA’s Built Environment Plan (page 51-52).
Suggestions have included removing the building to create a park or cutting its
height by two storeys and redistributing the height on to the taller buildings.
The 4 storey buildings proposed at the eastern end of Wilson St create a more sympathetic
interface with the existing residential area due to the existing change in land
fall with some of the building height being in the cutting, although it could
probably be improved by a more attic style setback on the top storey. However
down the Ivery’s Lane end there is no cutting and the land at the end of the
site is actually higher than Ivery’s Lane. This results in the four storey
building near Forbes St opposite two storey terraces and the six storey
building at the end of the site appearing higher than six storeys from the
properties backing on to Ivery’s Lane.

There is also concern about the lack of public green space
in the plan and the extra pressure this will put on the already heavily used Hollis Park.
The public spaces proposed on the site are mainly around retail areas such as
the Paint Shop, CarriageWorks and
Blacksmith’s Shop markets. There is concern also based on the recent
Erskineville battle over the proposed Woolworths development that any
supermarket development will bring extra car traffic to the area. It has been
argued that it may not be a good spot even for a locals walking to a
supermarket given that they would have to carry their groceries up a hill to
get out of the site and hence may prefer to continue to drive to Broadway.

There is also concern about the failure of the RWA Concept
Plan to lock in strong green initiatives on the site. While the City of Sydney is proposing in
its 2030 strategy that all major new developments need to include
tri-generation and other energy saving and green house gas reduction measures,
the RWA Concept Plan has no such requirements. The RWA Concept Plan for green
house reduction measures, including how parking will be handled and how much
there will be is left up to the developer who purchases the site to determine. A
recent 2030 Business forum emphasised the need for all large site developments,
like North Eveleigh, to achieve high greenhouse reduction targets if the 2030
sustainability targets are to be met.

Those concerned with heritage issues see little that will
ensure that visitors to the site will get a proper historical interpretation of
the site that explains the role of The Workshops. Retaining some of the
buildings by adaptively reusing them is only one part of the equation; the
other is to provide the necessary historical interpretation that explains the
site, its significance and its linkages to the surrounding area and the history
of the state. The RWA’s proposal allows the Chief Mechanical Engineers Building
to be broken up internally into housing units and the fabric of the Paint Shop to
be destroyed by four storey residential buildings out of its centre.

There seems to be some confusion about the definition of affordable
housing and we have heard people express concern thinking it is just another
name for public housing. Affordable housing is housing that is affordable for key
workers such as nurses, teachers, police and other service personnel, who need
to work in the heart of the city but who can’t afford to rent or buy in the
middle of the city. We have bought together statements throughout the Concept Plan
documents about Affordable
Housing and the RWA North Eveleigh Concept Plan May 2008 for those wanting
further information on what is proposed. The RWA promised in the
Affordable Housing Contributions Plan that it would develop an Affordable
Housing Programme. We are concerned that the RWA has not released details of such
a Programme independently of announcing Affordable Housing for this site. We
have been advised by the RWA that student housing does not qualify as Affordable
Housing.

These are some of the issues being raised back with
REDWatch and at the RWA’s information sessions. If you would like to talk to
others about these issues or wish to raise other issues we suggest you come to
the REDWatch submission BBQ on May 31st (details above).

A Major Project preliminary
assessment (MP_08_0058) (PDF 3.8MB) for 90 Regent Street, Redfern was lodged with
the Department of Planning on 17 March 2008. It is for the demolition of the
existing building on the corner of Regent and Marian Street and the construction
of a ten-storey commercial building with one level of basement car parking
containing eight car spaces and service room. The Director-General's
requirements for Environmental Assessment(PDF 86KB ) have been
issued on 8 May 2008 by the Department of Planning for the Project
application(PDF 923 KB ) made on
behalf of Tony Larkins and Richard Pembroke.
This is the first application within the RWA Redfern Commercial Core zone which
includes the area between Regent and Gibbons Sts and the DGRs will enable
possible buyers and sellers to assess requirements for undertaking developments
with in that zone. The zone permits floor space rations of 7:1 and heights of
up to 18 storeys. The site is currently on the market indicating that it could
be could be developed as a stand alone project or available for consolidation
into a larger development subject to a successful Department of Planning application.
A number of rumours have been circulating about attempts to consolidate parts
of the site. Railz tried to sell their site earlier but were unable to get the
price they wanted.

Queensland based construction firm Watpac has won the
contract to build the Seven Network's new $120 million Redfern reports Watpac wins Seven network
construction project in the Australian of May 21, 2008. “The
12-storey building at Australian
Technology Park
will be home to Seven's offices and studios, as well as associated company
Pacific Magazines. The unrelated Global Television Services will also take
space in the building. Single-asset trust ATP Property -- jointly owned by
Seven and Rebel Property Group -- is developing the building and aims to hold
it long-term. Rebel managing director Allen Linz said yesterday that a
marketing campaign for the 14,000sqm available would start soon. The space
would be offered for $400-$450/sqm net. Mr Linz said it was an attractive
campus-style precinct seven minutes from the CBD, on Sydney's busiest train line.”

After the
Morgan Disney report into Human Services, two Human Services Plans and three
years of RWA involvement in reorganising human services you would expect the
map would give an accurate picture of human services in the area. Try finding
some of the following key services on the map – South
Sydney Community Aid, The Food Distribution Network, South Sydney Community Transport or any services run
from the Redfern Centre built at the rear of St Saviours Redfern. You also will
not find Inner Sydney Regional Council for Social
Development or any of the services operating out of there.
The Factory is not shown in the correct location and The Settlement
Neighbourhood Centre is not listed as a Youth Service (which it was originally
wrongly classed as to be reformed) nor is it a Mixed Service (like the Factory
or Redfern Legal Service) it is now classed as a Family and Children’s Service!
Please have a close look at this map and let the RWA know of other errors so
they can be corrected and a truly useful map be constructed.

The Central magazine recently ran an article
about the end of RWA Human Services funding in Community Service
Crisis. The article contained a mix of responses
from local services who were either concerned about future funding for projects
previously funded by the RWA and those who felt there would be no change. In a
letter in response Redfern-Waterloo on the
Up, Robert Domm
CEO restated the RWA’s achievements. We await the Human Services Plan Phase One
evaluation which is expected in June to see what inroads the RWA has made in
improving Government service delivery in the area.

That the RWA can
create a Community Facilities and Services Map with so many key omissions,
indicates that government understanding of non-government services has not
changed since the earlier flawed Morgan Disney report into the area’s human
services, which was also unable to produce an up to date full list of the area’s
non-government human services. The stuff up underlies both the importance of drawing
on local knowledge, which government so often misses, and the need for those
working for government to continually check back with the community to verify
that their findings reflect what is on the ground.

The RWA
North Eveleigh Concept Plan proposes the following new community facilities for
the area (page 4 North Eveleigh Social Impact Assessment):

Childcare:
It is intended that the development provide for a 45 place childcare centre
which will be accessible to the public. It is estimated that there will be 71
children aged between 0-5 years in North Eveleigh
over the next 5-7 years. The standard of provision is considered to be higher
than the existing standard in the area.

Community
Centre: It is intended that the former Scientific Services building on the
North Eveleigh site be adaptively reused for the provision of a new 883m2
community centre which will serve the needs of the new residents at North Eveleigh as well as the wider existing community.
It is envisaged that the facility will provide for cultural development and
artistic expression as well as meeting rooms and services which will benefit
new and existing residents.

The
Central Magazine ran an article Budget: Health,
Education Benefit - Windfall for local services detailing the almost $50 million for local universities and $50 million for
cancer research at Camperdown contained in the budget. Not all local services were lucky in the
budget. One of the projects axed by the government’s first budget was the Regional
Partnerships Program of the Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure,
Transport, Regional Services and Local Government.

The Factory had put 12 months of work and
the expense of hiring an architect and putting a DA to council as a requirement
for an application to the Regional Partnerships Program to refurbishment of its
kitchen and disabled toilet. The negotiation was quite complex and necessitated
matching funding from Housing NSW (which had been approved but are now at
risk). The programme has now been axed by the Rudd government leaving The
Factory significantly out of pocket and without the facilities to run its
proposed new programmes on Nutrition, Health Awareness and Food Security. If
you have any suggestions or know of any other programmes that might help The
Factory get its kitchen upgrade please contact Patrick
Russell on 9698 9569.

The City of Sydney is establishing an Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Advisory Panel to help guide and advise on key issues
such as implementing an Indigenous Cultural Centre. Discussions will cover a
range of issues including cultural activities and events, training and
employment, business development, recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander culture and heritage in the public domain, as well as the City's
policies and protocols. The proposal follows recommendations from the City's
Sustainable Sydney 2030 Strategic Plan which recommends better representation
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the creation of an
Indigenous Cultural Knowledge Centre and the Eora Journey.

The 14-member panel is proposed to comprise
two Aboriginal elders; two Aboriginal young people under 25 years; six
Aboriginal community representatives; one Councillor and three City officers.
An Aboriginal co-chair, who will be elected at the inaugural meeting by the
Panel's members, will co-chair the panel with a City of Sydney Councillor. For more information see
the CoS
Media Release.

AHC CEO Mick Mundine
recently gave an interview to Time Out Sydney about his vision for the Block in
Mick
Mundine - On the streets of Redfern, there's a new day rising. The same issue carried the tourism feature
Walkabout #6: The Block,
Redfern (2010) which gives a taste of the destination
Redfern could become. If you want to see another manifestation of what can
attract people to Redfern you might like to come to “Gathering Ground 2:
History, Ceremony, Protest” which is a collaboration between PACT
Theatre and the Redfern Community Centre that encourages local youth to
participate in performance and installation art. It starts on Thursday 29th May
2006 night and runs over the following two nights. You can find more details in
the SMH’s Hip to be square and the Central Performance Rocks The Block.

One of the other inquiries at the moment is
the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services
in NSW. You can download all of the submissions, hearings etc. from http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/cpsinquiry

A successful Redfern
Waterloo Chamber of Commerce meeting was held at Mr Mary’s on May 6th
at which around 70 people attended the Environmetrics presentation and workshop
on “Redfern Business Precinct – Towards the Future”. Businesses who missed this
meeting can download the RWCC
Business Forum Presentation (1MB PDF) and the Report
on RWCC Business Forum Presentation (104Kb PDF). Environmetrics have
set up a Bulletin
Board to encourage comments on the issues raised so far in the Redfern
study. There will be a follow up meeting at Mr Mary’s on Tuesday 17 June 2008 6-8pm. If you have a business in Redfern
Waterloo please visit the Chambers website at www.rwchamber.com.au and make your
interest known so you can be advised about coming activities by the chamber.

The Redfern
Waterloo Chamber of Commerce has set up a Chamber sub-committee to follow up on
some of the issues raised at the Environmentics meeting including shutters and
related insurance issues, pilferage and parking which were some immediate
issues from the May 6th meeting. The aim is to work with the Council
and the RWA to arrive at solutions for both Redfern and Regent Sts. If you
would like to be involved on this committee or make suggestions on any of these
issues please contact Chris Curtis
on 0410 588 700.

The Redfern Waterloo Authority and the Department of State
and Regional Development operate a Free Business Advice service for both
existing businesses and for those thinking of starting up a business in the area.
The service provides free one-on-one confidential advice through an experienced
business advisor who has over 20 years experience helping start new businesses
or grow existing ones. You can download from these links the leaflets for the Free Business Advice
Service (79 KB PDF) and the Free Aboriginal
Business Advice Service (79 KB PDF).

There has been activity in rail yards around the state as
the Office of Rail Heritage gets set to dispose of surplus rail equipment in a
tender closing on 11th June 2008. RailCorp record keeping has not
been good and we understand there are a number of ownership disputes. We
understand some rolling stock and spare parts belonging to the Powerhouse Museum were taken away recently from
near the Large with other rolling stock removed by RailCorp. Volunteers at
Eveleigh were particularly upset that Lounge Car CPJ 924 is on the list of
items RailCorp has put up for tender. This carriage was built by volunteers
from a carriage condemned by the State Rail Authority in March, 1989 and now
RailCorp is claiming it and putting it up for sale with no recognition that volunteers
built the carriage virtually from scratch. To add to the insult the news of the
“repossession” coincided with Volunteers Week. You can read one of the
volunteer’s responses in The
Great TRAIN ROBBERS still in business (47 KB PDF).

Frasers has lodged its modified concept plan for the CUB
Broadway with the Department of Planning. An early exhibition consultation
event will be held incorporating a Q&A session. Frasers Broadway has also
lodged with council its DA
to use three warehouses and five terraces as temporary artist's spaces in its Kensington Street
properties as temporary artists spaces. Frasers will approach local artist
cooperatives to seek expressions of interest for use of the studios.

GCA Building Gets Border

The signs on Redfern’s most noticeable buildings, the
formally TNT Towers
have changed over the past few months to carry the letters GCA to reflect the
primary tenancy of Group Colleges
Australia. A
recent S96 DA modification MOD 024-12-07(1) for a border has been approved. As part of
the recent changes the main entrance to Tower One is into Lawson Square providing much more shelter
and an area for students to gather outside the building off the footpath. As
you can see from www.gca.edu.au the influx
in students brings demand for food and local services and will help strengthen
the Redfern & Regent St shops.

If you have had a look at the City of Sydney 2030
proposals and wish to comment on them it must be in by Friday 30th
May when the formal exhibition closes. The City of Sydney's
2030 vision document is now also available in Chinese, Thai, Russian, Korean
and Arabic on the City of Sydney's
website: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/2030/
. REDWatch has earlier bought together references to the Redfern area on its
website under Sustainable Sydney 2030.

The media has covered concerns raised about the proposed
Bourke Street Cycleway project in Surry Hills that runs through Redfern from
Zetland. Council has extended consultation until 6 June 2008. Information on
the proposal can be found at Bourke
Street Bicycle Route. Comments by writing to: Bourke Street Bicycle Route,
City of Sydney, GPO Box 1591, Sydney NSW 2001; or to Fiona Lewis, Project
Manager at bourkestreetcycleway@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
. You can also speak directly to David Robinson on 0419 615 806.

Those who have an interest in increasing Indigenous
economic opportunity may be interested to look at a Commonwealth discussion
paper on the future of the CDEP and Indigenous Employment Programs - PDF
(368kb). Unfortunately the one Sydney
based consultation meeting had passed before we heard about it but submissions
will be received up until 12 June 2008.

Sydney Roosters are conducting a Senior First Aid Course
in June at a reduced price as part of their “Commitment to the Local Community
Program”. It’s an opportunity for community organisations to train staff or
volunteers as the course is Work Cover Approved. The course is being run June
16, 18, 23, 25 and 30 commencing 6.00pm each evening at Sydney Roosters
Football Office, Gold Members Car Park, Sydney Football Stadium, Driver Avenue,
Moore Park (Free parking available). For further information, course fees and
bookings contact Brian Sinclair on
8063 3826, 0412 604 246 or brians@sydneyroosters.com.au.
The fee is $150, which includes all materials, resources, accreditation and
meals and refreshments on each of the evenings.

Twyford Consulting which has been working for the ILC on the
Redfern NIDC has been in contact to let us know about a five day certificate
course in community engagement that it runs which was developed by the
International Association for Public Participation (www.iap2.org.au). Twyford
Consulting is running the course in Sydney
in June. If you would like more information download
the brochure.

The Chippendale, Camperdown, Darlington, West
Redfern and North Newtown Urban Design Study has recently been
completed. The Planning, Development and Transport Committee considered a
report noting the study's status at its meeting on Monday, 26 May 2008. The
study is to be placed on Council's website to enable on-going, informal
community consultation. It should soon appear here
on the CoS website.